Car traveling with an 9 week old

cowpoly959

I have two questions really...

Next week we are making a 6 hour drive to stay with our in laws for the holiday weekend. We are leaving in the afternoon. Any tips on traveling with a LO in the car for this long? I am breastfeeding but I have a pumped stash of milk. What I am most worried about is him sleeping the whole way there and being awake all night and being cranky all weekend from not sleeping at night. He is a good night sleeper so far 9pm to 7am with two feedings.

My second questions is where I need major help. I keep reading all of your posts about a schedule. We have no schedule other than bedtime. I have no idea where to start with a nap schedule. I just feed him whenever and let him sleep whenever. I have been trying to purposely put him down for a nap because he has been overtired but still no schedule. Any tips? Thanks and sorry for the long post lo is 8 weeks today

ksyknelvr73

We will be car traveling with LO when he is 8 weeks old - here is what we are planning (our drive is about 8 hours).

First, and from experience with my older son who we took on a car trip twice when he was a baby, the sleeping in the car didn't seem to affect his night sleeping at all. He still slept like normal. Hopefully that will be the case for you.

Second, is there a way for you to sit in the back with LO for any portion of the trip? Like during his awake time? You should be fine to sit up front as normal while he is sleeping, and let him sleep as long as he wants. You will obviously have to pull over to change/feed him. If you can time it where you feed him and change him RIGHT before you first leave that'd be best so you can hopefully get a solid stretch in the car before having to stop. If you can sit in the back while he is awake, you can talk to him, maybe take a couple toys to show him (musical ones that light up are the BEST, there is a baby Einstein one at Target that is like $10 that is wonderful for this - here is a link: https://www.target.com/p/baby-einstein-take-along-tunes/-/A-10968045#prodSlot=medium_1_10 ). Something like that help should help engage/distract him.

Otherwise, if he just seems fussy, you may need to stop for a bit, get out of the car and spend 30 minutes or so walking around, letting him just be out of the car seat. Overall you should probably plan for your 6 hour trip to take about 8 hours. Hope that helps!

gurleymomma

WhenDD1 was 12 weeks we had to go on a eight hour trip for a funeral.besides stopping to feed and change she slept whole time.

spinsoffresonance

If you're worried about him sleeping too much during the day, you could leave at 9pm and drive through the night.

haylo33

We are driving 6 hours this Tuesday to go on vacation with our 6 week old. I plan on sitting in the back most of the trip. I'm going to stop every few hours to change him and let him stretch. I plan on feeding him while driving in the car seat with milk and then I'll just pump after and save the milk since family will be watching him a few times to let us do stuff. I'm going to try to take stops right after he is done eating to burp him. Plus he poops after almost every feeding.